The NFL announced, yesterday, that they would not be disciplining Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill. No suspension, zero games. Ezekiel Elliot was suspended for far less.* The NFL concluded during their “thorough investigation” that their understanding was “the child was safe.” That’s laughable. We all listened to the recording, 11 minutes of intermittent verbal abuse. Let me say that I don’t believe that his fiancee is innocent in this situation either. Hill was recorded saying that the child should be afraid of him, and that his fiancee should be afraid, too.
“He’s terrified of you”
“You need to be terrified of me too, bitch. That’s why you can’t keep a fucking man.”
Quotes from audio recording between Hill and his fiancee
In the recording, Hill is also accused of punching his child in the chest and using a belt to “whoop” his son – to which Hill doesn’t deny doing. Instead Hill deflects the conversation back to his fiancee, “but what about you.” During the recording, Tyreek Hill accuses his fiancee of lying in their altercation in 2014. There’s an issue that arises with this, Hill pled guilty. So did she lie or did he lie under oath … admitting to another crime? Let’s say that he didn’t abuse her back in 2014, he still entered a plea of guilty. If he’s claiming to not have done that then he’s admitting to committing perjury. Either way, still broke the law. Can’t wait for TMZ to release the video in a few months showing what really happened and for the NFL claim, again, that they could not get ahold of security camera footage.
We already knew the league doesn’t care about abusers as long as they’re talented and can make revenue on jersey sales. This decision to not suspend by the NFL is appalling. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be a fan of a league that so clearly doesn’t care about victims and rules in a hypocritical way. The minimum time for a player facing a domestic violence suspension is six games, Hill was only ever facing four games. Roger Goodell is a tyrant, a cancer to the league. He preached for years (re: Tom Brady/Deflategate) about protecting the integrity of the shield. Here we are, yet again, trying to figure out the punishment, or lack there of in this case, length of a player involved in domestic abuse.
*Ezekiel Elliott was suspended for 6 games in the 2017 season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. He was investigated by the league, and police, for domestic violence. The police in Ohio, where the incident took place, never charged Elliott with a crime due to conflicting information. Yet, somehow the league found it acceptable to suspend Elliott.
In August of last year, Ravens CB Jimmy Smith was suspended 4 games after the NFL found evidence of “threatening and emotionally abusive behaviors.” I guess saying that someone “should be scared, too” isn’t threatening or emotionally abusive. At least that’s how Goodell sees it.
Josh Gordon is on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, when he’s finally removed he will still face an indefinite suspension, for smoking weed. The NFL has an archaic view on marijuana. I guess the league would rather their players become dependent on opiods instead of using an herb that is known to help alleviate pain and anxiety. Gordon has battled mental health issues since his childhood and has used weed to cope.
As much as I love watching football, I really hope the NFL goes into a lockout after the 2020 season if Roger Goodell doesn’t step down as commissioner. The commissioner rules like he’s a dictator, partly because that’s what the CBA allows to happen. Thankfully, the 10 year deal expires at the conclusion of next season. Hopefully the NFLPA doesn’t allow his reign to continue.
After a “thorough investigation” they said. The same thorough investigation that got Zeke suspended, Brady suspended, and Ray Rice was given a slap on the wrist. Kareem Hunt situation was swept under the rug until the video was obtained by TMZ. That video was the second time that TMZ obtained a video that the NFL “couldn’t.” The Hunt video and Rice video’s are completely different in varying degrees of issues, the NFL was completely negligent in both of those cases. They claim that the couldn’t gather the videos from the police, however, TMZ was able to get them? No, the NFL didn’t want to pay for them and just hoped that the videos wouldn’t surface. Brady’s case also provided no evidence, it was concluded that it was “more probable than not” that something happened. Well… it’s more probable than not that the man who’s verbally abusing a woman in an audio recording beat his child. Especially as he’s accused in the audio and he doesn’t say that he didn’t. Ray Rice was only given a two-game suspension. This was after an investigation. It was only after TMZ released the video that Roger Goodell admitted to not getting the suspension right.
Goodell upped the minimum number of games a player to be suspended for, for domestic violence because of his mishandling of Rice. Since then, he’s shown that he’s incapable of following rules that he put in place. Gross incompetence.
Because of Roger Goodell and how utterly ridiculous the league is at handling domestic violence issues, I wish the Patriots had the ability to distribute their own merchandise. Like the Dallas Cowboys. Just so I could continue buying Patriots memorabilia without supporting a tainted league.
One Second Takes 